Lasers. Liquid nitrogen. Ink-jet printers. These are not items typically associated with haute cuisine. But molecular gastronomy, broadly defined as the application of scientific techniques to cooking, doesn’t produce typical food. The phrase is attributed to physicist Nicholas Kurti and chemist Herve This, who sought to find out such basic questions as why a soufflé rises and the best temperature to cook an egg. The genre has recently expanded to include novel ways of using laboratory techniques in the kitchen.
But with edible menus, spheres that burst in the mouth, potato foams, and words like “benzaldehyde” on the menu, it’s tough to tell whether this diverse style of cooking is an art, a science, a technological showcase, or an interesting trend that will go the way of Jell-O molds.
For the ardent foodie, the immense attention to every flavor, to every sensory experience, to each squirt of foam, is unparalleled. Though I generally like to keep the laboratory as far away from my dinner plate as possible, I would be interested to try some of these concoctions, as pretentious as they might be.
Bacon with Butterscotch Paste and Dehydrated Apple
Photo source: Alinea-restaurant.com
Presentation plays a big part of the dining experience at Alinea in Chicago, where custom made serving ware turns bacon into a piece of modern art.
Huckleberry
Photo source: Alinea-restaurant.com
If you’ve ever poured Petri dishes, you’re familiar with agar agar, the seaweed-derived substance that forms a solid gel at room temperature and is used in this creation at Alinea. Chefs similarly use carrageenan, also made from seaweed, as a gelling additive.
Candy Cap
Photo source: Alinea-restaurant.com
Finding sweet substances that don’t recrystallize at room temperature—but do have flexibility and molding capabilities—means looking past normal sugar (sucrose) to invert sugars, isomalts, and sugar alcohols.
Textured Chocolate
Photo source: elbulli.com
Hot Potato, Cold Potato
Photo source: Alinea.com
Some dishes, like these from Alinea and elBulli in Spain, involve active participation of the eater. After removing the skewer, the hot potato, along with the black truffle shaving, butter cube, parmesan cube, and slice of chive drop into the cold potato puree. The serving dish is made of wax.
Warm Goose Barnacle Aspic in Tea
Photo source: elbulli.com
Words like “barnacle” and “aspic” sound unappetizing to me when combined, but perhaps this dish at elBulli—like “snail porridge,” “Douglas fir puree,” and benzaldehyde—could be delicious.
Hot Duck Foie Gras Block with Peach Caviar
Photo source: elbulli.com
This “caviar” treat at elBulli is made by spherification, a widely used molecular gastronomy technique. It involves mixing a liquid (like peach juice) with sodium alginate and then putting it in a calcium chloride solution. The result is a round sphere, like the peach balls above, with a crispy exterior and a liquid interior.
Bacon Croquant Flute with Pine Nut Ice Cream
Photo source: elbulli.com
Many dishes mix seemingly incongruous flavors together, like this bacon and ice cream concoction at elBulli. Like chocolate-covered pretzels, you really can’t beat a sweet, salty, and savory combination.
Smoked Eel, Peanuts, Snow Peas, and Whipped Caramel
Photo source: wd-50.com
Blood Orange Foam with Tomato Seeds and Sorbet
Photo source: elbulli.com
Hot Foam of Potato with Mock Tartufo
Photo source: elbulli.com
Chefs create foams like these served at elBulli and wd-50 in New York by using a whipped cream-like canister to add air into a sauce.
